Dark Days
by Tynan
Summary: ‘Something’s not right.’ The thought barely crossed his mind when the vehicle in front of theirs burst into flames with a roar. The burning SUV was thrown backwards, its front flipped over as the vehicle sailed through the air and toward their own SUV.
1. Alone

Greetings!

So, I'm coming to live from Walt Disney World and because I'm on vacation I've actually had some time to work on a few stories that I've been meaning to get to. This piece was the first part of my pledge for this years Church of Lemons. Actually this was also my first non-Occam's Razor universe piece, so yay!, (I guess). That being said, I have removed the actual lemon scene from this version because I'm not really sure about 's policies regarding that sort of thing anymore . . .

This is only two parts and I'll be editing the second part over the next couple of days so I'll have it up soon. Until then, enjoy!

"Dark Days"

Tynan

Disclaimer: If I owned GW I'd be posting my stories on an animation board.

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**Thursday, March 12, AC 201, 8:37PM – Brussels, the Grounds of Université Libre de Bruxelles, Event for the ESUN Foreign Minister**

'_Something's not right'_

The thought barely had time to cross his mind when the vehicle in front of theirs burst into flames with a deafening roar. The burning SUV was thrown backwards, its front flipping over as the vehicle was thrown into the air and toward the front of their own SUV. Around their route the crowds that had gathered scattered in nothing short of blind panic.

Their driver swore fiercely under his breath and slammed the brakes and tried to swerve out of the way while simultaneously, beside him Relena gasped in surprise and horror, but the tiny sound was stifled as he threw himself on top of her and pulled her to the floor of backseat. No sooner had they made contact with the floor below him than the vehicle pitched forward, its hood crushed under the weight of the mass of twisted, burning metal that had exploded in front of them not two seconds ago.

Beneath him Relena attempted to stifle a scream but he hardly heard it over their driver's continued stream of curses as he tried to control their car. Above them the glass shattered around their heads only to be thrown on top of them as he felt the SUV lurch to their left and roll over on its side, finally coming to a stop.

Slowly, he lifted his head. The air around them was filled with screams and the sounds of panic. He could already hear footsteps approaching the toppled vehicle. Relena was now on top of him and their eyes met as soon as she lifted her head from where it had been tucked against her chest. She looked to be in shock, he could see the haze that coated her eyes, as though she was still processing what had just happened . . . but for now that was going to have wait.

"Relena," Heero shook her shoulder gently and her eyes immediately came back into focus, he tried to keep his voice calm as he spoke "Relena, reach up and see if you can push the door open."

But before she had even pulled her arm out from under herself the door above their heads was suddenly wrenched open, and before he knew it, Relena had been lifted out of the overturned SUV and a pair of hands had seized him by the collar of his jacket and were hauling him through the broken, singed metal of the vehicle's door.

Heero righted himself as soon as his feet touched the ground and immediately whipped his head around to find his girlfriend. He found her just in time to see her fall into a sitting position, her knees apparently too weak to stand; a Preventers officer immediately knelt next to and hauled her to her feet again and began to whisk her off to what Heero hoped was a safe location. He tried to take a step toward her, but the same hands that had pulled him out of the SUV were still on his shoulders, and the person they belonged to was demanding his attention.

"Heero, answer me, are you alright?" His head instinctively turned to the sound of the voice and found Duo's concerned gaze. He friend gave his shoulder a gentle shake, "Say something, buddy."

Training instantly kicked in, "I need you to go get Relena, take her straight to the hospital –"

Duo's eyes widened, "Is she hurt?"

He shook his head in reply, "I didn't see anything serious, but make sure she gets checked, and then keep her there." He locked eyes with Duo, "No matter what she says, don't let her leave until I get there."

"You're staying back?"

Heero reflexively scanned the area around him again, "I want to find out what happened here, I'll be right behind you." Even as he was speaking, Duo removed his service pistol from his shoulder holster, clicked off the safety, and turned in the direction Relena had gone. Before he could even taken a step however, Heero's hand darted out to grab his shoulder and spin him around, "Duo, please . . . make sure –"

Duo cast him a lopsided, but reassuring smile, "I won't let her out of my sight, buddy, promise."

With that Duo spun on his heels and disappeared into the steadily growing crowd of people. Off in the distance sirens were approaching, the screaming had died down as it was slowly replaced by the scampering and frenzied noises of those coming to help. Heero took a deep breath to collect himself; the air smelled of gasoline and the sickening distinct scent of burned flesh. He squared his shoulders back and reached into his jacket pocket to remove his cell phone, about to flip it open and call Une, see what he could find out.

Then there was a new noise, something whizzed through the air, and struck the wrecked car about twenty feet in front of him. He looked up out of instinct and was met with a deafening explosion and an intense flash of light. He was knocked off his feet, a wave of heat washing over his exposed skin as he fell. He hit the ground hard, the back of his head connected painfully with the ground below it.

The screaming and sounds of panic renewed themselves. There were footsteps coming toward him, but he couldn't see who it was. The world around him faded to black.

**Friday, March 13, AC 201, 10:42AM – Saint Mary's Hospital Intensive Care Unit, Room 208 (DAY ONE)**

"Heero?"

Relena. Even through the unexplained haze and throbbing pain that was clouding his head, he recognized her voice . . . he would recognize her voice anywhere . . .

"Heero, can you hear me?" She sounded concerned, "Squeeze my hand if you can hear me."

Even as he heard the words, he had the sudden realization of her hand over his own. He felt his head loll to the side as he tried to force himself back into consciousness.

"Heero, you're in the hospital. Please wake up, squeeze my hand."

The tingling numbness in his limbs started receding and fought his way through the grogginess to muster the focus to press Relena's fingers against his palm. He heard her release a relieved sounding breath and shook his head from side to side trying to clear the from his mind and force his eyes open.

Relena must have sensed his actions because suddenly there were two hands on his shoulders gently holding him down. "Heero, don't try to move around, you're still very heavily sedated"

"From what?" his words came out slowly despite the fact that he was slowly becoming more aware of his surroundings . . . why couldn't he manage to open his eyes?

"You needed surgery, you were hurt in the attack yesterday." Relena sounded anxious, upset . . . something was not right . . . why couldn't he open his eyes . . .

"Yesterday, how long have I . . ." Heero took a breath and tried to steady his voice, "Relena, tell me what's going on."

He heard her sigh and she removed her hands from his shoulders to take his hands and lift them to his face. Gently, Relena placed his fingertips to where he should have been able to feel his eyelids . . . but there was something else there . . . gauze . . .

The fog was instantly gone from his mind, quickly replaced by a dizzying sense of being suddenly overwhelmed, "Wha – what . . . why are my eyes bandaged?"

"The doctor said it was the second explosion, the flash damaged your –"

"Relena," he cut her off abruptly, his voice unable to completely conceal the disbelief he felt watch over him "am I blind?"

"No!" she answered immediately, practically yelling at him, "No . . ." she reeled in her voice and moved her hands from his eyes to the sides of his face, cradling his head between them. From the sound of her voice she was trying not to cry, "The doctor says it should be temporary . . ."

"Should be?" Heero felt the breath leave his chest as he tried to process this information, "How long . . . What . . . what's going to . . ."

But Relena did not get a chance to answer, at that point a door opened and several pairs of feet entered the room, three from the sound of them. Relena's hands left his face and there was a sound of a chair scrapping across the ground, Relena must have stood up to greet the visitors who he could hear collecting around what he assumed was the bed he was laying in.

"Hey," the voice was unmistakably Duo's as was the hand that suddenly clasped him on the shoulder, "how you feeling there buddy?"

Before he could respond though, another voice, this one curt and crisp, spoke, "Agent Maxwell, we're going to have to save the pleasantries for later. We need to deal with the matter at hand immediately."

"Commander Une, I have to say again that I do not believe your plan to be the best course of action." Relena sounded harsher than Heero had ever heard her before.

"I understand your concern, Foreign Minister, but as I already explained to you –"

"And as I explained, I'm not going to allow you to put Heero in danger just because –"

"Ladies," a new, male voice interrupted, "Ms. Foreign Minister, Commander please –"

"Yes, please," Heero interjected, trying to keep the anger out of his voice, "explain what is happening."

Three people audibly sighed while a fourth continued speaking, the unidentified voice from before. "Agent Yuy, my name is Dr. Addy, I'm the Head of Optometry here at Saint Mary's." Heero heard the doctor take a step closer so that he was right next to the bed. "Agent Yuy, you were standing very close to the second explosion and were looking directly at it when it occurred."

Heero shook his head slightly, the events slowly coming back to him . . . the sound of something whizzing through the air, the explosion, the heat on his face, the light . . . "And the flash . . ."

"The light from the explosion seared your retinas, Agent Yuy. I examined your eyes and then conducted some minor laser surgery."

"Surgery for what?" Heero couldn't help the urgency in his voice.

Dr. Addy's hands were suddenly on his face and Heero realized his was unwrapping the bandages from around his eyes. "I surgically inserted two blackened lenses under your cornea and fitted them over your irises."

"Why?"

"Because if you have any hope of recovering your eyesight you cannot allow any light to contact your retinas for at least two weeks." The doctor finished removing the bandages as he spoke, but even as they came off Heero could already tell that the world remained black.

In the meantime, Relena had apparently taken his hand again, "It will only be for two weeks, Heero."

"Yes," Dr. Addy added, "and you'll have to keep the bandages on for the two weeks as well, you had some burns on the skin around your eyes. The lenses I inserted are just a secondary measure. You'll have to keep all light out of your eyes for two weeks to allow your retinas sufficient time to heal." As he spoke, Dr. Addy gently touched the skin around Heero's eyes, presumably to inspect it. Even with the very light pressure being applied, he felt himself flinch from the pain.

"And then he'll be able to see again, right doc?" Duo sounded even more apprehensive than Relena.

Dr. Addy sighed, "Yes, if all goes well after I remove the lenses, Agent Yuy should regain his vision." The doctor tilted Heero's head forward and began the process of wrapping new bandages around his eyes.

"No," Relena's harsh voice interjected into the conversation again, "he _will_ regain his vision." He felt her squeeze his hand, "You'll be fine, you just need to make it through two weeks, and you'll be fine."

Heero nodded in spite of himself. His mind was reeling as he tried to process what he was being told. For at least the next two weeks he was not going to be able to see and while Relena was apparently certain that everything would be alright after that, Dr. Addy did not seem convinced.

"Unfortunately, that's not our only problem." Une brought herself back into the conversation and Heero heard her take another step toward him, "Agent Yuy, we were unable to apprehend the individuals that attacked Ms. Peacecraft's convoy."

Heero felt himself lurch forward, "They got away?!" Even as he spoke, Relena was gently forcing him to lie down again.

"Yes, our forensic team tells me that they used grenade launchers to blow up the vehicles." Heero could almost hear Une shaking her head the way she did when she was angry with herself, "Obviously we are concerned that they may try to kill the Foreign Minister again."

Off on his left side Duo snorted, "Yeah, I'd say that's a pretty safe bet since it was only luck that they didn't get her the first time. How could they have known which car she was in?"

"They wouldn't have." Heero and Une both spoke at the same time, but Une continued, "However the first vehicle they blew up originally was listed as the one Agent Yuy would be traveling in."

"And its public knowledge that I'm head of Relena's security as well as her boyfriend and would be with her at all times," Heero finished for her and turned his head in the direction of Une's voice. "How are you going to handle this?"

"Heero," he felt the bed dip and was surprised by the realization that Une had sat down on the end of it, "officially, Relena is the one that's in this hospital room, not you. As I said before, we are concerned that these people will try to kill Relena again and the last thing we need is whoever did this knowing that they blinded her head of security."

"You want me to try to keep acting as though I'm perfectly fine." Heero calmly concluded for her.

"The plan is this: You're going to leave the hospital with Relena in a few hours. We're going to tell the press that she did not sustain any serious injuries and was kept overnight for observation. You will go back to Relena's home with her and you'll be staying there the two weeks that you recover or until we catch these people, whichever happens first." Une paused for a moment as if to build herself up to what she was about to say, "Relena will be there to help you at the manor, but in order to make this cover a credible one, you're going to have to make a few appearances with her in public – like escorting her into work Monday morning as per your usual routine."

"Une, it's not safe!" Relena sounded upset to say the least, "Heero shouldn't be putting himself in danger by protecting me when he can't –" she abruptly stopped talking, but her words were not necessary.

Une sighed in return, "Relena, it's the only way to –"

"Une's right, Relena. I'll do what she says." Heero answered calmly. "If these people found out that I couldn't see they'd immediately take advantage of the change in personnel that would be needed and come after you."

"We'll pare down Heero's tasks to the bare minimum, which will basically consist of being seen with you in public occasionally so as not to arouse suspicion." Une lowered her voice into a softer tone, "We won't leave Heero without support, Relena."

"I'll be with you guys the whole time," Duo added. "I won't let ya out of my site, you'll be so sick of me I'll have to ignore you for a month just so you can get over it."

Relena let out a frustrated sounding noise but her voice sounded defeated, "It's not safe . . ."

"But it's necessary." Heero concluded for her.

**10:05PM - Residence of the ESUN Foreign Minister, Foreign Minister's Bedroom**

Relena sat on the edge of her bed and kicked off her shoes. Her bedroom was almost completely dark except for the light that emanated from the gap under the bathroom door; inside Heero was probably finishing up the shower he had insisted on taking before they went to bed. Relena shook her head and stood to get her pajamas out of her dresser; Heero was still pretty out of it from the painkillers they had given him at the hospital, but he had refused her help when they had finally gotten back over an hour ago.

The ride back from the hospital had been quiet to say the least. Seven people had been killed in the attacks, another dozen or so seriously wounded and Heero seemed to be taking this personally for some reason. He had taken a seat next to her in the car and had not moved again until they arrived at her manor. Heero knew the layout of her house like the back of his hand and so he had no problem getting upstairs and into the shower. As Relena got dressed she tried to think ahead to the two weeks before them . . . things were going to be difficult, but they would take this one day at a time . . .

She had just pulled a tank top over her head when the bathroom door opened and Heero walked out clad in only a towel. Relena watched him walk across the room, slowing when he got to the area where the suitcases that Duo had brought from Heero's apartment were on the floor.

"Heero?" Relena tried to keep her voice casual as she stood and walked to where her boyfriend was now rooting through one of the bags, "Can I give you a hand? Duo packed those, I'm sure they aren't organized in any way."

"I'm fine," he answered stoically and pulled out a small article of clothing, feeling it for a minute before slipping off the towel around his waist and pulling on the pair of boxers. As he stood and turned back toward Relena; she saw in the dim light that Heero had a dark bandana tied loosely around his head like a blindfold so that it covered his eyes. He held something out to Relena, "Could you wrap this for me?"

Relena nodded and reached out to take Heero's and gently led him to the edge of her bed, allowing him to sit down before she positioned herself next to him and began to wrap the bandages around his head as gently as she could. To her surprise, Heero put his hand on her leg while he waited for her to finish.

She taped the edge of the bandages shut and immediately slipped her left hand in his while the other wound its way around his neck. Relena couldn't be sure how long they stayed like that, instead choosing to concentrate on Heero's steady breathing; Heero however pulled away from her and felt up the side of the bed until he found the edge of the comforter and pulled it back a bit. Relena took this to mean that Heero was ready to go to bed. "I'll get your pills."

"I don't need them." His voice was not sharp, but it was not warm either.

Relena shrugged, unconsciously squaring her shoulders back, ready for a fight, "The doctor said that you need to take the antibiotics or you could get an infection. And . . . Heero, you must be in a lot of pain . . ."

He sighed as he swung his legs onto the bed and under the covers, "I'm fine Relena."

This time he at least sounded as though he was trying to comfort or convince her. Relena took a breath; she felt defeated, she just couldn't bring herself to be upset with Heero . . . she couldn't imagine how helpless and frustrated he must be feeling, "Heero . . . please, just take the pills . . . just so you can sleep tonight."

She watched his expression and despite not being able to see his eyes, she could tell he was about to object, but to her surprise he sighed in response and held out his hand. Relena didn't waste a moment, practically leaping for the nightstand, doling out Heero's medicine, and depositing the pills into his hand. By the time she had put the caps back on, Heero had already taken the medicine and was now completely reclined in the bed.

Relena considered him for a moment before standing and walking around to the other side of the bed, pulling back the covers on her side and getting underneath. Heero was lying on his back, hands resting on his chest. Before she even realized what she was doing, Relena pulled herself across the mattress and pressed her body against his side, reaching one hand up to tilt his face down to hers and pressed a gentle kiss on his lips. Heero sighed as they broke apart and wrapped an arm around her body to pull her closer; Relena nestled her face into the crook of his neck and inhaled the distinct scent that was Heero.

Again, she paused to consider his situation. Heero was by no means a vain or egotistical man, but that didn't mean he didn't have his pride. Pride; though he would never admit or show signs of it, Heero prided himself on his work and part of that work was keeping her safe. She knew that Heero had been mentally inventorying his self worth since he'd woken up in the hospital this morning. She knew he was doubting everything about himself, about his life . . . and how he fit into hers . . .

"Heero?" She'd meant her voice to be soft, instead it came out as little more than a whisper.

"Hn?" He sounded drowsy, the pain medication must have been taking affect.

Relena tilted her head back so that her mouth was next to his ear. "Heero . . . nothing could ever change how much I love you."

He inhaled a little sharply, indicating that he had heard her, but said nothing else as he drifted off to sleep.

**Saturday, March 14, AC 201, 8:00AM – Residence of the ESUN Foreign Minister, Foreign Minister's Bedroom (DAY TWO)**

There was a noise off to his right. Instinctively, Heero sat bolt upright in bed, whipping his head around, trying to ascertain the situation, why the hell was it so dark –

The events of the day before suddenly came rushing back to him just as a pair of hands closed around his shoulders.

"Heero, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

Relena sounded worried to say the least, "It's alright . . . I just . . . I . . ." he trailed off.

The mattress beside him lifted and he heard Relena's feet touch the ground then walk to his side of the bed and take his hand. "I've cleared my schedule for the weekend so we can just stay here for the next two da–"

"I don't need you changing your schedule to accommodate me, Relena." He couldn't help the bitter tone in his voice.

Relena paused for a moment, apparently thrown off, but recovered quickly, clearly trying to keep her voice light sounding, "Heero, I'm not changing my schedule, I just want to be here to help you."

Heero sighed, and swung his legs over the side of the bed, "I could use some coffee . . ."

As he predicted, Relena stood immediately, he could almost hear her smiling. "Go – good. I'll be right back."

"Actually, I'll just meet you down there." Relena answered with an 'okay', and she was out the door almost instantly.

He waited until he was sure she was a good bit down the hall before standing and feeling his way over to his suitcase. In reality he wasn't sure that he could stomach coffee, but he needed to get Relena out of the room, he didn't want her to watch him try to get dressed and ready for the day.

Heero's fingers closed around the top of one of the suitcases and began rifling through the clothes in it. It didn't take him long to find a pair of pants, a t-shirt, and a button-up shirt to go over it. A minute or two more of searching revealed a pair of shoes of some sort which he pulled on over the first pair of socks he found. As he finished tying the laces, he ran a hand over his face and discovered two and a half days worth of stubble protruding from his chin. Logic screamed that shaving without being able to see your face was a bad idea, but even as he was thinking it, he found himself rooting through the suitcase again and coming up with his shaving kit.

**8:05AM - Residence of the ESUN Foreign Minister, Kitchen**

Duo had determined sometime ago that Relena's house was by far his favorite place for breakfast; the large kitchen was bright and cheerful, the coffee was good, and in the course of his extensive searches and samplings he had yet to meet the pancake that could rival Paegan's. He downed the last of his coffee and just as he was about to stand for a refill, one of the kitchen door swung open and Relena stumbled into the room, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

The braided man couldn't help but smile at the bunny rabbits that were splattered across her pajama pants, but Relena didn't seem to notice, "Good morning, Princess," he greeted her in his usual over enthusiastic tone, "how are we this morning?"

Relena had already busied herself with the coffee maker, but stopped to turn around and greet him properly, "We'll _I'm_ perfectly fine this morning . . ." her voice trailed off.

Duo shrugged and crossed the room to join Relena; he leaned up against the counter next to her and thought how to best phrase his next question, the direct approach seemed best, "How's Heero doing?"

He saw Relena's head dip to her chest and her shoulders fall even as the words left his mouth, "Heero's . . . Heero's, well Heero." She lifted her head to meet his eyes, "He's spoken a total of eight complete sentences to me since we left the hospital yesterday. I did manage to convince him to take the painkillers last night but I think I've pushed my luck as far as it is going to go in that area, and I'm pretty sure he just chased me out of the bedroom so that he could get dressed without me offering to help."

Duo couldn't help but shake his head as he put a comforting hand on Relena's shoulder. However, to his great shock, no sooner had he touched her than she spun around, threw her arms around his neck, and started crying into his chest. He felt himself stiffen out of reflex but relaxed instantly and brought his arms up to hug her, letting her cry for a few minutes before finally speaking, "Relena, it's gonna be fine."

"What if it's not?" She sniffed and took a step back so that they were looking at each other; her expression was both pained and terrified, "Duo, he's a wreck. And I know he's trying to stay calm and focused for me because he doesn't want me to see him . . ."

"Scared." Duo finished for her.

Relena nodded again and it looked like she was about to break down into tears once more, but she collected herself, "I can't imagine how he must be feeling. Knowing that there's someone out there who's trying to kill me and not only is he almost completely helpless to do anything about it now, but he might be forever and –"

"Don't say that." Duo cut her off softly. He stepped back from her to place his hands on her shoulders, "Relena, listen to me. You are the only thing in the world that Heero truly loves. You are his entire life." Relena dipped her head back down to her chest, but Duo gently grasped her chin and lifted her face up again. "Look, I know that this is going to be hard for both of you, but Heero's got to be going out of his mind knowing that you're in danger and he can't protect you the way that he usually can."

"But acting like nothing is wrong isn't going to help the situation either!" Relena's eyes started filling with tears again, and her voice was strangled when she spoke, "I know that Heero doesn't want to be taken care of . . . but just for now why won't he let me help him?"

Duo sighed in an exaggerated way and let his arms drop to his sides, "It's a guy thing, Lena, that's the best I can tell you." He gave her a lopsided smile, "We don't want you girls to think we can't handle ourselves." The braided man stepped back to swing his arms up behind his head the way he usually did when he was about to tangent into a story, and sure enough, Duo stayed true to form, "Like when I had to get my appendix taken out, and I was all drugged up for like a week and Hilde tried to keep me in bed and bring me soup and ice cream and stuff, and I just wouldn't listen to her when she said to just take it easy!"

Relena rolled her eyes, Duo's story not having his desired reassuring effect, "If I remember correctly you then ended up in the hospital when you wouldn't stay in bed and fell down the stairs while insisting in a morphine-induced stupor that you had to go to work at 3:00 in the morning."

Duo replied with his trademark grin, "Hey, I didn't say handling things ourselves was the smart thing to do." He grin softened into an understanding smile, "I'm just saying that I know Heero can be like the more stubborn person on the planet, but just try to –"

Whatever Duo's last bit of advice was, Relena never found out because at that moment a great deal of commotion erupted from the hall outside the kitchen. The sound of clanking silver and shattering glass filled the air only to be drown out by a string of very creative curses and a high-pitched voice frantically apologizing. After exchanging a glance, Relena and Duo both bolted for the door, throwing it open and coming upon a scene that under different circumstances might have been somewhat humorous.

Heero had apparently collided with one of the maids, Karen, who had been carrying a large tray with a full tea setting on it. Both of them were now sprawled across the floor, covered in scones, cream, and jam. On top of this however, was Heero's appearance. Relena eyed him carefully for a moment, trying to figure out if the cuts on his face had been a result of the collision, then quickly realizing he had tried to shave after she left. Aside from this . . . well obviously Heero had gotten dressed in the dark that morning, but his outfit only served to emphasize that point. He was wearing red and white running shoes and a pair of black dress slacks that looked like they probably went to a three piece suit, from underneath of them a pair of blue socks peaked out. Her eyes continued to travel upward, and the top wasn't much better; the loudest Hawaiian shirt she had ever seen had been paired with one of Heero's gray Preventers t-shirts that he wore to work out in.

Karen managed to get herself to her feet and the movement snapped Relena out of her daze; she and Duo simultaneously moved toward them. Duo helped Karen away from the mess while Relena knelt down next to Heero and put a hand on his shoulder, "Heero, are you alright. Here, take my hand and –"

"I've got it Relena," his voice clearly conveyed the embarrassment he was feeling. Before she could stop him though, Heero put out a hand to push himself up off the ground, not realizing that there was broken glass right underneath. Heero wrenched his hand back, swearing under his breath again, and almost fell backwards as he lost his balance. Relena's arm shot out to grab him though, the other immediately seized his now bleeding hand. She grabbed one of the napkins that had fallen off the tray and wrapped it around his hand as gently as she could. "Heero, come with me, let's get that cleaned up."

With a defeated sounding noise he accepted her help and got to his feet, allowing Relena to lead him back up the stairs, into her bedroom, and then into what he assumed was the bathroom. She sat him on the edge of the bathtub and carefully unwrapped the napkin. Little shards of glass were still sticking out in a few places, but Heero did not so much as flinch was she removed them. He sat silently while she cleaned and bandaged the cuts.

"None of these look too deep, I don't think that you'd need stitches." She tried to keep her tone light as she spoke.

"Hn."

Relena closed her eyes and remembering Duo's words, tried to push back the tingle of frustration she felt in her chest, "I'll go get you some different clothes."

"What's wrong with my clothes?"

His voice conveyed genuine confusion; apparently Heero really didn't realize what he had put on. She opted for a safe answer, "Well, um, they're covered in jam." Before he had a chance to respond, Relena ducked out of the bathroom, returning a few minutes later with a new (matching) outfit, and set it down on the edge of the tub next to Heero.

Heero didn't respond, rather he just sat their rubbing his newly bandaged hand. She had never seen him look so dejected and she could only imagine what was going through his head at that particular moment. For the time being, she got the distinct feeling that Heero wanted to be left alone. "So, um, I'll just leave you to get changed then." She took a step toward the door, stopped before opening it and turned back around to kneel in front of Heero, putting her hands over his, "I'll be in my office so . . . if you need me . . ."

"I'll be fine Relena." Heero stood and pulled his shirt over his head, then picked up the clean one and shook it out, "I'm just going to . . . walk around the grounds or something . . . keep myself busy . . ." his words broke off into unintelligible mumbles and Relena took that as her cue to leave.

**9:32PM - Residence of the ESUN Foreign Minister, Foreign Minister's Bedroom**

The next time she saw Heero, he was already in bed. Relena had spent a few hours trying, with limited success, to work in her office, but finally gave into the fact that she simply could not concentrate and had gone to find Heero and force him to talk to her for a while. But Heero was no where to be found; Paegan had finally told her that he had left the manor almost an hour ago and that Duo had insisted on accompanying him. The day wore on into night and it was almost 9:30 before Paegan informed her that Heero had returned ten minutes ago and apparently had gone straight to bed.

She knew that he wasn't asleep, and indeed he sat up when she opened the door and stepped into the bedroom. Relena smiled brightly even though she knew it didn't matter, but it helped her to hide the dismal feelings that were threatening to overwhelm her, "You're back." She crossed the room and began changing into her pajamas, "So where'd you and Duo go off to?"

Heero pushed himself into more of a sitting position, "Just walked around the grounds for a while, then to the garage, Duo did some work on the Shelby. I didn't want to just sit around all day." Despite the normal tone of the conversation, Heero sounded almost worse than he had this morning.

Relena finished dressing and climbed into bed next to him; Heero must have heard her and felt the mattress dip because he laid his head back down as soon as she did. "That's good." She edged closer to him and put a hand on his chest, "Maybe tomorrow you and I can get out of here for a while."

Heero didn't respond right away but after a few seconds murmured in a quiet voice, "Yeah . . . let's see how tomorrow goes . . ." As he spoke the words, he rolled a little to his left so that his back was partially to Relena. "Good night."

Relena stared at him for a moment, trying to fight back the swell of tears that suddenly threatened to spill over. No, no she couldn't cry. Heero had enough to deal with right now, she couldn't make him feel worse by crying. Instead she leaned across the bed to the nightstand and switched off the lamp, making the room just as dark as it was to Heero.

**Sunday, March 15, AC 201, 9:07AM - Residence of the ESUN Foreign Minister, Residential Bedroom (DAY THREE)**

Relena was already gone when Heero awoke the next morning. As he sat up in the bed it occurred to him that he had no way to tell what time it was. He had to content himself to getting a shower and finding some clothes to wear before he could go downstairs and find out how much of the day he had slept through already. Judging by the groggy feeling that still plagued him even as he pulled his shoes on, it had been far longer than he usually slept; the pain medication was no doubt messing up his usual sleep cycle.

He carefully made his way down the stairs, checking for any maids carrying trays of tea before crossing the hall into the kitchen. The smell of coffee brewing told him that it was still morning. The sound of a chair scraping across the floor met his ears was almost immediately followed by a pair of feet walking across that same floor in his direction, "Heero," Relena sounded happy to see him, "you're awake. Sit down, I'll get you some coffee."

To his relief, she did not try to lead him over to the table, her footsteps instead clicking off in the direction of the gurgling coffee pot. As he found his way to the table and sat down, he listened to the sounds of Relena pour a cup for him, then crossing the kitchen floor again. He had never really thought about how quietly she moved, there had never really been a need to because she was always within his sight. Even as she set the mug down on the table in front of him, he couldn't help but think how delicately she must handle everything she touched for it to make so little noise.

"So," she spoke as she sat down opposite him, "Une called this morning. She wanted to check and make sure that we were both set to go for tomorrow."

Heero nodded, "Duo will be driving us in tomorrow, he's planning out most of the operation."

He heard Relena's spoon clink in her cup as she stirred her coffee, "Une said that she'll be sending Duo by later today with a pair of sunglasses for you to wear and that I should try and arrange your bandages so as much of them are hidden as possible."

"That's fine." He couldn't say why, but for some reason, Relena was suddenly the last person he wanted to be having this conversation with. "I'll work out the details with Duo when he comes by today."

"Alright," Relena's voice was still cheerful sounding, but certainly not as bright as before and a pang of guilt cut through him at this realization. "So I thought that maybe we could do something today to get you out of the house, go for a walk, or a drive –"

"I don't need you to baby-sit me, Relena." The words had come out much harsher sounding than he intended them and even as they were leaving his mouth, he wished he could take them back.

He heard her breathe in sharply followed by the sound of her chair being pushed back from the table and her footsteps going in the direction of the sink where she apparently deposited her coffee cup. She took a shallow but long breath before she finally spoke, "I-I'm sorry, Heero. I wasn't trying to –"

The wave of guilt that washed over him was too much to handle, he stood from his chair, intending to go to her, "Relena, I didn't mean –"

"I'll just leave you alone then." The words caught him off guard and before he could recover, Relena had slipped out of the kitchen. For a moment he just stood there, cursing himself for what had just happened before throwing the mug he held in his hand in what he was pretty sure was the general direction of the closest wall. He heard the glass shatter on impact and the liquid splatter across the floor but it did nothing to ease the unusual feeling of anger that suddenly overwhelmed him.

Relena had just left in tears, he didn't need to see to be able to tell that, and for no reason other than the fact that he was being so obstinate he couldn't accept the help of the woman he loved. Heero unconsciously ran a hand over his face, he had no idea how he was going to get through two weeks of this without emotionally destroying Relena. For now though he need to get out of the house and calm down while he tried to come up with a way to fix things. He slowly walked in the direction of the door that connected the kitchen to one of the manor's many gardens and stepped outside.

**9:32AM – Residence of the ESUN Foreign Minister, Foreign Minister's Private Office**

Relena blew her nose again and tossed the tissue into the wastepaper basket. She shook her head, completely disgusted with herself; it had taken her nearly twenty minutes and half a box of tissues to calm down and stop crying, but that was not the reason behind her disgust.

As she sat on the floor, her back against the wall behind her desk, she couldn't help the feelings of anger that crept over her when she thought back to Heero's words. Anger . . . how could she possibly be angry with her boyfriend of over two years for being frustrated and discouraged because he had been blinded? Part of her brain screamed at her that Heero shouldn't be taking his irritation out on her, but the other, much larger part was furious with herself for making him feel even more helpless than he already did.

For the n-th time in two days she tried to put herself in his place and think about how despondent and powerless he must have been feeling . . . but she wasn't sure how much more of this she could take . . .

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the door that went to her bedroom open. Had Heero come to look for her already? The first thought to cross her mind was the irrational desire to hide under her desk; she just didn't want to see him this mome –

"Hello? Heero? Lena? Anyone here?"

Relena jumped to her feet and grabbed a tissue as she called back to Duo, "I'm in my office, Duo. I'll be right –"

Before she could finish however, the doors burst open and Duo strode into the room, "Hey, there you are. I got here and Pagean said he didn't know where either of you two went. I'm not interrupting anything am I? 'Cause I can always come ba –"

Duo's words died on his lips as his eyes finally came to settle on Relena. She dipped her head to her chest, even though she knew it was useless trying to hide the fact that she'd been crying. The braided man pursed his lips and shook his head, his shoulders falling as he did, "Man, that guy . . ." he scratched the side of his head thoughtfully, "Alright, I'm going to go find Heero."

Relena's head shot up, "Duo, it's fine, really. There's no need to –"

But Duo was already walking back out the door, "Hey, we're just gonna have a little chat, Princess. Nothing to get worked up about."

Relena watched him leave, the sudden sinking feeling in her stomach somehow worse now.

**9:58AM – Grounds of the Residence of the ESUN Foreign Minister, West Gardens**

Heero lifted his head and listened, he was sure he'd heard footsteps approaching –

"Hey, Heero! There you are buddy!" Duo joined him rather quickly. Heero could tell he was standing over him, more than likely wondering why he had been lying in the grass. To his surprise though, Duo did not question him, instead he heard his friend plot himself down on the ground next to him. "So how's it going?"

There was no question that Duo was a master of deception, but to Heero he would always be a bad liar. "You saw Relena, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I ran into her upstairs." Duo answered as if there was nothing wrong.

They lapsed into silence and just when Heero was about to stand up and continue his walk, Duo spoke again, "So do you remember a few years ago, back before Hilde and I moved to Earth and I joined Preventers, how I had to have my appendix removed?"

Heero thought back, it had been May of 198. Hilde had called him in the middle of the night hysterical, he and Relena had offered to go out to L-2 and stay with them for a few days, but Duo had insisted that they not come. "Of course I remember."

"Yeah," he heard a noise like Duo was stretching, "well see the thing is that . . . I still have my appendix."

Heero felt his eyebrows wrinkle under the bandages and waited for Duo to keep talking, "See, I was working in the scrap yard taking apart this old V6 engine and apparently there was still some fuel residue in the module because as soon as I got near it with the blow torch, the compression chamber exploded and next think I know I'm waking up in the hospital and Hilde's telling me that I had to have surgery to take a three-inch piece of shrapnel out of my stomach."

Heero felt his own stomach lurch at this revelation, "Why didn't you tell us?"

To his annoyance Duo just laughed in response, "Have you called Quatre or Trowa or anyone yet to tell them that you're blind?"

Heero shook his head, defeated; when Duo was right, he was right. His friend however, ignored him and continued talking, "I was mess, they had to take out like a foot of intestine, I could hardly eat, I couldn't walk . . . but that didn't stop me from trying. That part about me falling down the stairs was true. I hadn't been taking my medicine like the doctor said I should and got a blood infection and a really bad fever and next I know I'm back in the hospital."

Heero shook his head, trying to process this information, "Why are you telling me this now?"

"Because," Duo's voice suddenly became quiet, "after I took that tumble, I woke up in the hospital again only this time Hilde wasn't there."

Fortunately, Heero didn't have to ask what Duo was talking about, after a moment he started talking again. "The nurses went and found her as soon as I woke up, apparently she'd been in the cafeteria for almost the entire two days I was out. As soon as she came back in my room, I could see why she couldn't bring herself to wait in there the whole time."

"Because it was upsetting her seeing you like that," Heero finished for him.

"Yeah, but it was more than that. It was also because she couldn't help me. She was mad at herself for letting this happen to me, like if she had just forced me to stay in bed this wouldn't have happened." Duo shifted on the ground next to him, "The fact of the matter was, that I wouldn't have listened to her no matter what . . . and as a result I was hurting both of us. For as much as I love Hilde and want to keep her safe, she feels the same way about me. As hard as it was to admit that I couldn't completely take care of myself for a little while, I knew that Hilde loves me and that she just wanted to make I was alright . . . the same way I would for her, if God forbid something ever happened to her."

Heero pulled himself into a sitting position and he heard Duo respond by getting to his feet, "Relena loves you Heero, she wants to take care of you the same way that you spend your life taking care of her." Duo put a hand on his shoulder, and Heero stood up to join him, "Come on let's go to the garage, I think I've almost got that Shelby up and running again, you can give me a hand."

"I can't see anything, Duo," Heero reminded dryly, him as they set off in the direction of the garage.

"That's alright, you can just keep me company then."

**8:45PM - Residence of the ESUN Foreign Minister, Foreign Minister's Bedroom**

Even blind, it wasn't hard to find Relena. As soon as he entered the bedroom he heard clicking coming from her office connected to the room; he shook his head at the sound. She was typing. Whenever Relena became overwhelmed with something she threw herself into work as an outlet . . . apparently his stubbornness had pushed her to that point.

He tapped lightly on the office door, but didn't wait for a response before entering. The typing stopped as soon as he stepped through the threshold and he stopped just inside the door in response. More than any other time in the past three days, Heero wished he could see at that moment, see what Relena's expression was, her posture, how her eyes looked . . . he couldn't read her like this. Mentally he shook himself and cleared his head; it didn't matter how he was feeling about this. He was there to ask for forgiveness and hope that she would not demand he leave her alone as she should have days ago . . .

"Is everything alright, Heero?" To his amazement, she still sounded worried. He dipped his head to his chest; he really did not deserve her sympathy and concern after how he had been acting.

Mustering up the strength he needed to find his voice, Heero walked toward her desk, stopping as he came to the edge of it, "Relena, I'm sorry –"

"Heero, it's fine, I kn –"

"No, it's not fine." he gently cut her off, "It's not fine, Relena. For the past three days you've been trying to look out for me and . . . and I've been treating you like you I didn't want you around."

"I understand if you need some time to yourself . . ."

The caring tone in her voice was only making him feel that much worse, "I didn't . . . it's not . . ."

There was a scraping noise and seconds later, Relena was lacing her fingers between his own. She lifted their hand to her mouth and gently kissed his knuckles, "It's okay. I know that this is going to be a very hard two weeks for you. You don't need to explain –"

"No, I don't, but I want to." He turned in her direction and lifted his free hand to find her waist, "I owe you an explanation." Without warning he drew her into his arms, crushing her against his chest. Relena gasped slightly but made no sign of protest, choosing instead to wrap her arms around his neck. Heero stroked her hair for a moment, inhaling her sweet scent, and trying to prepare himself for what he was about to say.

"Four days ago I thought that the only thing that scared me was the possibility of something happening to you. To be honest, I never really thought about something happening to me, I always assumed that if something ever did happen I probably would survive it." He felt her tighten her arms around his neck at these words, "The possibility of being blind for the rest of my life . . . it scares me . . . but I realized that most of that fear is coming from being afraid of . . . of what . . ." he sighed, exasperated that he still couldn't bring himself to say it, ". . . that I might lose you . . ."

A heavy silence blanketed the room and Relena let one of her hands slide down from his neck to rest on his chest, "You think that I would leave you?"

_You should, _his mind screamed at him, but he kept that part under control, "No, I . . . it's . . . not you."

Relena suddenly pulled back from his embrace but cupped his face between her hands, "You think that you wouldn't be good for me anymore."

It wasn't a question, it was a statement, and unfortunately an accurate one. "You deserve better than having to spend your life worrying about your blind boyfriend."

"Heero, it doe –"

But he didn't stop at her objection, "I wouldn't be able to take care of you the way I do, I'd become more of a liability than anything else –"

"Don't you think that having you in my life is more important to me than your ability to protect it?" Her voice was firm, but not loud, "Heero, don't you understand that I love _you,_ not the job you do, not whether or not you can stop people from trying to kill me. I love _you_."

He was mentally listing the faults in her logic and was ready to voice them as soon as she stopped talking, but never got the chance. As soon as Relena fell quiet she covered his lips with her own, pulling him into a heated kiss. He was barely aware of what was happening when Relena began pushing him backwards without breaking their kiss. He tried to open his mouth to protest, but she only took that as an invitation and slid her tongue into his mouth.

She continued to slowly move him backwards, but finally stopped when his back connected with something. Relena broke away for only a moment but if gave him enough time to collect himself and realize they had come to the door. There was a clicking noise, and the door behind was pushed back, causing him to nearly loose his balance, but Relena seized his arm and yanked him a few steps forward into the bedroom. She immediately pressed herself up against him again, but harder this time, and in an instant they were falling backwards. He reflexively put an arm out to try to break their fall, but instead of the floor it met with something soft and quickly realized it was the bed as Relena came down on top of him and began attacking his lips again.

"Relena . . ." he breathed his half-hearted protest into her mouth.

"Shut-up, Heero." With that she dipped her head to his neck and began kissing and sucking the sensitive skin there while whispering softly to him. "I love you Heero. I love every part of you. I love when you smile, I love how you'll bring me flowers when I'm having a bad day, I love how you insist on driving whenever we go out, I love that you'll sit through the crappy movies I love without a single complaint, I love how you obsessively organize your underwear drawer, I love when you hold me as I'm falling asleep . . ."

She was drug, her words were intoxicating, he didn't even notice that she had been undoing the buttons on his shirt until she suddenly pulled it off his shoulders and ran a hand over his bare chest. He couldn't take it, he found her chin with his hand and forced her head up to meet his lips again while allowing her hands to continue over his chest, then to his stomach.

- - - - -

They were both covered in a thin glaze of sweat and Heero was sure that Relena could hear his heart pounding in his chest. She tilted her head so that she could wedge it into the crook of his neck, she rested one hand on his chest, while the other tangled itself in the hair at the base of his head, "I love you, Heero." She kissed his jawbone, then his cheek, "Nothing could ever change how much I love you."

She moved her hand from his chest and found his own, lacing their fingers together, "We'll get through this together."

He bent his head to find her forehead and planted a long kiss on it. "One day at a time."

**Monday, February 16, AC 201, 8:06AM – The Earth Sphere Unified Nation Capital Building, Personnel Entrance (DAY FOUR)**

The sun was shining; he could feel it on his face as he stepped out of the car. He turned and offered Relena his hand, hoping that it was close enough to her to look natural. Apparently it was because Relena took it and stepped out of the car and only to the walkway of the Capital Building's back entrance. Heero guided Relena around him so that she could walk into the building ahead of him. He tried to look like he normally would, pretending to scan the area while keeping a hand on the small of Relena's back as they walked across what should have been the last forty or so feet to the building's doors.

Relena stretched her arm behind her and took Heero's hand in hers, giving it a gentle squeeze as they continued to walk.

Then, out of the calm morning air, a gunshot rang out, then another, then another. Instantly, his senses began screaming. A sharp pain ripped through his shoulder, someone screamed, Relena gasped as he pushed her towards the door, he could vaguely make out the smell of blood, his head started spinning, and he felt like he was falling.

But still it was dark.

-

-

-

Okay, that's the end of the first part – I'm editing the second part and I'll try to have it up by the end of the week. Is there any interest in reading the unedited, lemon version? Should I post it on blissfulignorance? This was the first thing I've ever written with a lemon scene so I'm not quite sure what to do with it.

Thanks again, hope you enjoyed, and see you soon!


	2. Together

*sigh* Well here I am a day late and a dollar short so to speak. I apologize for taking forever to post this, I don't know why but I just couldn't get myself going on editing it.

Along those lines, for those who are reading Occam's Razor, I am still working on it. I had a very embarrassing cooking accident in the end of August – my dog tripped me while I was frying bacon – and I ended up with second degree burns all over my hand. I'll spare you the gory details, and just say thankfully, the doctor gave me the all clear a few days ago and so I can get back to typing with both hands again and I'll be working as fast as I can to get the next chapter out in a couple of weeks.

I apologize in advance for what I know will be many repetitive descriptions in this story – it's hard to keep coming up with ways to describe things by someone who can't see any of them.

Thank you so much for the reviews and encouragement – every time I got one, my heart skipped a little . . . then was stabbed by a pang of guilt for starting something and not finishing it.

"Dark Days"

Tynan

Disclaimer: If I owned GW I'd be posting my stories on an animation board.

- - - - -

**Monday, March 16, AC 201, 8:17AM – The Earth Sphere Unified Nation Capital Building, Personnel Entrance (DAY FOUR)**

"Heero!"

His first instinct was to tell the voice to go away and let him sleep, but he recognized this voice and years of interacting with it had taught him that there was no getting it to shut-up.

"Come on, Heero, wake up." A hand shook his arm while the other tapped the side of his face. He lifted his own arm to close over the hand on his face and immediately regretted doing so. A sharp pain ripped through his shoulder and down into his arm.

"Whoa," Duo forced him back down, "careful there buddy, the EMS guys will be here in a second."

EMS? Heero's head shot up as he suddenly remembered; someone had shot that them. "Where's Relena?!" he demanded of Duo as he reached up to seize the collar of his friend's jacket in his fist.

"I'm right here!" He heard her materialize over him a second after her voice which was probably best described as sounding in a state of controlled panic. Relena took Heero's hand off of Duo's collar and held it in her own, "We're inside the Capital Building, Heero." She now sounded like she was going to burst into tears, "You were shot in the shoulder, Duo pulled you inside."

"Were you hurt?!"

"N-no . . . I'm fine –" The rest of her sentence was cut off by a sudden flood of footsteps. There were voices trying to pull Relena away from him to get checked out by the medical personnel; she protested claiming she was fine.

"Don't listen to her." Heero practically growled from his spot on the floor where two other people were hovering over him, "I threw both of us onto the walkway, she must hit her head pretty hard, she probably needs an MRI."

"Heero, I'm fine, you're the one who's bleeding."

Beside him, Duo stifled a laugh but stopped abruptly as familiar and intimidating footsteps approached carrying with them an fasting talking and furious sounding voice.

". . . someone get Agent Chang on the line for me. I want the entire exterior of the building sealed off, the Crime Scene Unit is not to leave until they've covered every inch to the grounds within a 750 foot radius of where the shots came from. Don't just stand there, go tell them!"

Heero heard Une come to a stop just before him, he could just picture the look she had on her face, "Agent Maxwell, what the hell happened?"

Duo got to his feet, "Someone shot him, Commander."

Heero could almost hear her gritting her teeth, "I can see that! How did it happen?!"

"Commander," Wufei's voice suddenly appeared from no where and joined the conversation, "ma'am I just came from the Peacecraft residence and have something I need to discuss with and Agent Yuy immediately."

Une sighed, "Well it's going to have to wait, Agent Chang. Agent Yuy is in need of medical attention."

"I'm fine." Heero responded immediately and started to sit up, pushing back two of the medical staff as he did, "Let's find a conference room and –"

"Sir," one of the paramedics interrupted him, "you really should come back to HQ and get that cleaned up."

Heero leveled his gaze in what he was pretty sure was the direction of the paramedic, "Is this going to kill me?"

"N-no sir," he could practically hear the man recoil, "it was a through and through, but you've lost a lot of blood and –"

Heero reached for his belt and found his radio, "HQ, send Agent Po to the Capital Building with a medical kit for a patient. Tell her it's a level 6 clearance case." With that he got his feet, holding his throbbing shoulder.

"Relena?" She was by his side in an instant, "Can we use your office?"

"O-of course." He heard her remove her phone from her briefcase, "I'll call my secretary and have her clear the suite for us."

"Good," he put an arm on her back and began leading in her farther into the building, "let's go."

"Heero, don't you think we should wait for Sally so she can look at you?", she had flipped open her cell phone and was dialing it as they walked.

Heero smirked against the pain in his shoulder, "She'll meet us up there, and she's not coming to look at me, she's coming to examine you."

**8:32AM – Private Office of the Foreign Minister of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation**

Heero sat bare-chested on something that felt like Relena's desk chair. When she arrived, Sally had been confused and then furious with him for refusing medical treatment at the scene; it was only Une's polite request that had coaxed her into treating Heero in Relena's office. She had rigged up an IV drip for him and had bandaged his chest on the condition that he go get cleaned up at the medical division once they were done.

While she worked, Une filled her and Wufei in on what had happened to Heero. Sally was shocked that they had allowed him to continue on working completely blind, Wufei grunted in agreement.

"Yes," Une sounded frustrated, "I agree that it was a risky move, but it was necessary in order make Ms. Peacecraft less of a target."

"And obviously, it didn't work!" Relena's voice erupted from beside him sounding uncharacteristically angry, "We've needlessly put Heero in danger and all we've accomplished is to demonstrate that his presence is not going to scare these people away!" Heero reached out to put a hand on her arm in the hopes of calming her down; she stopped yelling but he could still feel her arm shaking under his touch.

Une sighed, "Yes, unfortunately they seem to be quite determined."

Duo snorted, "Pft, understatement of the year. Two close calls in less than five days? Yeah, I'd say this guy is pretty determined."

"_Guys_," Wufei corrected him and Heero heard the Chinese man step closer to the group, "this is what I wanted to explain to you Commander. Maxwell called me in this morning to oversee the Foreign Minister leaving her residence. After the report came in about the shots, I had the officers there check over the grounds." There was a rustling of paper like Wufei had spread something out across the desk, "Here, over by the maintenance shed, I found footprints, like someone had been waiting there."

"And they have a shot of the garage from there." Une concluded.

"Yeah, but not a clear one, see?" Wufei must have been showing Une and Duo the manor's blue prints, "They probably couldn't get a shot and called ahead to their cohort who was already waiting here."

"It makes sense that these guys would double up." Duo added, "So what do we do now?"

Une folded the papers back up again, "Ratchet up, Ms. Peacecraft's security, she'll need a double –"

"That's not enough." Heero cut off his Commander, "These guys, whoever they are, have gotten closer to killing Relena than anyone else ever has not once, but twice, in less than a week. Doubling up her security isn't going to be enough."

"Yuy's right." Wufei chimed in, "We need to put the Foreign Minister under lock down until we figure this out."

"Now wait a minute!" Heero heard Relena jump to her feet, "You don't get to just decide th –"

"But as head of your security I do." Heero interrupted her. He knew she was formulating an argument against him even as he spoke and raked a hand through his hair, "Could the rest of you give us a minute please?"

With little more than quiet agreements and stern warning from Sally, the other occupants of the room filed out. Heero waited until the door closed behind them before he turned toward Relena, "I know what you are going to say –"

"Then what's the point in arguing with me?" Relena had shifted into what she called her 'important voice'.

"Relena," he lifted his hand toward her and a second later she slipped hers into it. He pulled her closer so that she was sitting on the arm of the chair, "I told you last night that the one thing that scared me was the thought of something happening to you. Right now, I am very afraid."

"Heero, I –"

"Please listen to me." He urged her gently, "Someone is out there right now that wants you dead. They want to kill you so badly that they are taking risks that most terrorists would never dream of. They are being reckless and brazen but they are also being smarter than anyone else I've seen." He reached up to cup her cheek, "I can't protect you the way I normally can right now, I need you to help me."

Relena sighed, "And you think that locking me up in the manor is going help?"

"It's the most secure location we have." He pulled her face closer to his own and got ready to play his trump card, "I love you, I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you, so please, just until we can figure out who these people are . . ."

She paused, but he knew that she would not refuse him, "Alright . . . I'll call my staff and let them know that I'll be working from home for a while."

Heero's lips quirked into a small smile and he pulled Relena down into a gentle kiss, "Thank you."

**Tuesday, March 17, AC 201, 3:31PM – Residence of the ESUN Foreign Minister, Foreign Minister's Private Office (DAY FIVE)**

Duo scanned the computer screen in front of him.

**Local Set $sd = EnvGet**

**Local Const $log = $sd & \**

**Local $oIE, $gogtext**

He typed several commands and the screen spun into a flurry of numbers, letters, and symbols, the last of which read:

_**|/\/\ (_+()|\||\|/-\ /\/\|_|§|-| -/()|_||~ /\/\||\||) \/\/|+|-| |_|=-|=-+**_** |}**

He stared at the text for a moment before recognizing it. "Heero!"

The man in question looked up from where he was seated across from his friend, "What?"

"Who the hell writes this kind of a system in ColdFusion and then puts the actual commands in l33t?"

"Yuy does apparently." Wufei quipped from his spot near the window.

Duo sighed and raked a hand through his bangs. After Wufei had said that someone had been by the maintenance shed, Heero had wanted to check the manor's security system . . . the only problem with this was that it was he and Wufei that were forced to do the actual checking and wading though Heero's extraordinarily intricate programming codes was a slow and frustrating process, "Man, this is the most unnecessarily complicated think I've ever seen in my life! How is anyone supposed to understand this?"

"They're not supposed to Duo, that's the point," Heero shook his head and picked up his cup of coffee. "Leet is hacker language but it's subjective, theoretically anyone who knew what they were looking at could read it, but they couldn't replicate the commands without knowing exactly how the original write typed the – ."

"Yeah, yeah, fine. Subjective equals protective; I get it." Duo waived off the Wing pilot and returned to the computer screen, "Hey, Wufei come look at this, man."

Wufei quickly joined him at the computer, where Duo point to a spot on the screen.

"What is it?" Heero knew he must have sounded a little anxious, but stopped himself from getting out of his seat.

"I'm not sure." Wufei responded in a distracted voice, "There's a repeating command on here that doesn't seem to actually do anything."

"It could just be an anomaly in the system," Duo offered. "Did you write a failsafe like that into the program?"

"No," Heero answered carefully, "nothing like that."

Wufei shrugged beside him, "Make of note of it, Maxwell. We'll check it out when we run the system scan tomorrow."

Duo gave him a mock salute, "Rodger that." He jotted the text down on the note pad next to him. But instead of looking back to the screen Duo found his eyes wondering to where Heero was sitting. He couldn't imagine what must have been going through his best friend's head at that moment; he himself could hardly believe what was happening. For the time being however the best they could do was to take every possible precaution. He and Wufei were rotating nights at the manor and Relena had agreed not to leave unless absolutely necessary. On top of that there was Heero's rather formidable security system to contend with. All of these things should have reassured him . . . but he just couldn't get the thought out of his mind that something ominous was looming on the horizon.

**Sunday, March 22, AC 201, 7:56PM**** – Residence of the ESUN Foreign Minister, Kitchen (DAY TEN)**

Relena stood from her seat and started to pick up the dishes, "Can I get you some tea, Wufei?"

"That would be nice, thank you," he answered her somewhat awkwardly. Relena smiled back at him and went to stove, dropping the dishes in the sink on her way. They had developed a routine of sorts over the past few days. Duo and Wufei switched off turns at the manor overseeing the usual contingent of Preventers officers; she insisted that whoever was on duty that night join them for dinner. Duo was in no way a shy guest, but Wufei was clearly uncomfortable with the hospitality.

Still, it was nice to have them there. It gave Heero a way to break up his day and so it gave her a little time not to worry about him as much. Une contacted her and Heero daily to give them an update. So far they still had very little to go off of, but she was confident that they were narrowing their field of suspects.

Relena filled the kettle and set it on the stove, before returning to her seat. Wufei and her boyfriend were already embroiled in a conversation about what sounded like the merits of fuel cells being used in short range space shuttles. She sat down and politely listened, trying to appear interested, (not that either of them noticed her), until the kettle started to whistle. The sound was almost a relief, but as soon as she started to pour their tea, the kitchen door swung open and a young Preventers officer entered.

"Agent Chang, I'm sorry to interrupt sir, but you asked me to get you if Agent Po called."

It could have been her imagination, but Relena was sure she saw Wufei blush as he stood from his seat and bustled out the door. Relena laughed as she carried hers and Heero's mugs to the table and set them down.

"What's so funny?"

Relena put two sugar cubes in her tea and watched them dissolve, "Not funny, just cute."

"A phone call is cute?" Heero sounded perplexed.

"Heero, come on, don't tell me you haven't noticed."

"Haven't noticed what?" She swore she could see his eyebrows wrinkle through the bandages.

Relena sighed in an exaggerated way, "Never mind."

But Heero was practically beside himself, "Never mind what?"

**2:14AM - ****Residence of the ESUN Foreign Minister, Foreign Minister's Bedroom**

Heero sat straight up in bed.

Something had woken him up, there had been a noise somewhere in their vicinity . . . something that would have caused him alarm . . .

He listened, staying perfectly still, his senses heightened to the point that even the tiniest of sounds would reach his ears. But the air was still, perfectly quiet. He could not say how long he waited, his body tense, before he was finally felt his muscles relax. However, just as he was about to lay down, the sound reached his ears again, much louder this time, so much so that he heard Relena shift in the bed next to him as she sat up.

"Heero, what was –"

Her voice was drown out by the sudden intense buzzing sound that filled the air. Relena said it even as he thought it, "The alarm!"

Heero sprang into action, rolling over to the side of the bed he pulled open the nightstand drawer, and extracted the two small pistols he kept there. Even as he did, he heard the sound of the steel plates scrapping against the window edges as they started to close over the floor to ceiling glass panes. This was bad. Someone had set off the alarm in such a way that it was sealing the residential wing of the manor shut which meant they were already in the house.

"Relena," she gasped slightly at the sound of his voice and his hand grabbing hers, "we have to get down stairs."

He pulled her across the bed, hauling her to her feet as they went, and started in the direction of the door. "Heero . . . you don't think someone actually . . ."

Her voice trailed off, he could hear the frightened tone in it and knew immediately what she was thinking, because it was the same thing that he was: could whoever it was that was trying to kill her actually have broken into the manor? He lifted his hand out in front of him and found the door knob, but even as his hand closed around it, he realized something was wrong.

It was too . . . quiet. There weren't any sounds from the hallway that should have been steadily filling with Preventers . . .

"Stop," he put a hand out to catch Relena and pushed her to the side of the door before slowly opening it. Nothing, there was nothing in the hallway. Heero took a deep breath, he didn't want to, but he didn't have a choice. "Relena," he reached for her hand again, "listen to me. Get down as low as you can and very, very slowly, I need to look out into the hall and tell me what you see."

"Okay," he could still hear the apprehension in her voice, no doubt his seemingly odd actions were only making it worse. She knelt on the floor, and a moment later, he heard her stand again.

"Heero, the doors at the end of the hall that lead to the stair case are closed."

He felt his stomach immediately twist into a knot, "Closed how?"

She took a breath, "The steel panels have closed over them," she clenched his hand, "Heero, what's going on?"

He couldn't stay and explain it to her for the moment, yanking her in the direction of her office, talking as they went, "I don't know." He pushed open the door and set off toward where her desk was, "Listen, I need you to check the security system for me on the computer."

They reached her desk and she sat down in the chair, "I, I don't know how –"

"Just tell me what it says," Heero answered as he moved over to the office's windows, quickly discovering that the steel panels had closed over them as well.

Relena was typing, he heard the computer beep, accepting her password, and then beep again, as if denying her access to something, "It . . . it says . . . there's a map of the manor on the screen . . . and the perimeters of the residential wing are all blinking red . . ." her voice broke off and he heard her pick something up, then practically drop it back onto the desk, "Heero . . . the phone is dead . . ."

His mind started reeling. "This isn't right. If someone had broken into the manor the system should have sealed itself off in such a way that we could still get out. There's no protocol for it to seal off only the residential wing." He raked a hand through his hair, "They've cut the phones, like they did this intentionally so that . . ." A horribly realization struck him.

"They're locking us in with them . . ." Relena finished his sentence.

Even as the words left her mouth, Heero lunged in her direction, found her shoulder, and practically dragged her around the desk, before steering them back into her bedroom. Relena gasped behind him as they burst into her bedroom, "Relena listen, these people are already here, they'll break down the door any second now." He found the door to her massive walk-in closet and pulled her inside, pushing aside some of the clothes on the rack, and throwing her behind them. "No matter what you hear, stay here."

"Heero, no you can't –", her voice broke as she spoke.

"I'm not going to argue with you right now." He pulled the bandages from over his eyes, but the world around him remained dark because of the protective lenses Dr. Addy had surgically implanted over his eyes. Heero took the extra gun from the waist band of his sweatpants, and pressed it into her hand.

He felt her resist, but he seized her shoulders, pulling her close and even though he couldn't see it, he knew that their faces where only inches apart, "Relena, please."

He heard her voice catch in her throat, "I – I can't just –"

Heero cut her off, sealing his lips over hers. Something wet touched his check and he realized that Relena was crying. He broke away from her, perhaps a little too abruptly, he pulled her against him "Relena, I love you. Please . . . no matter what you hear . . ." She stifled a small sob against his chest, and he finally released her, pushing her back behind the clothes again, and pulled them shut over her. "Shoot anyone who comes through the door," he told her firmly as he bolted back toward the door and back into the bedroom.

There were footsteps out in the hall now, he could hear them as he rounded the bed, and crouched behind it, with his back toward the plate covered windows so that he was facing the door. Heero clicked the safety off his gun and leveled it in the direction of the door. He would have to try to pick off as many of them as possible and hope that he could hold them off long enough until someone got there to help Relena . . .

The doorknob clicked, Heero braced himself and realigned his aim toward the sound of the door, which was now being pushed open. Someone's foot made contact with the wood floor and that was all he needed. He squeezed the trigger, firing off three shots in the direction of the sound. Shouting erupted from the place he had just fired into, someone hit the floor, there were two other voices, yelling back and forth, scrambling as they tried to find where the shots had come from. The screams of the man he had shot made it impossible to tell exactly where the other two men were.

Footsteps were approaching, one of them shouted his location to the other. He fired straight in front of him, but before he could get a second shot off he felt a thick body crush his own against the floor. He struggled, and his hand connected with what felt like someone's face but before he could make another move a different pair of arms seized him from behind.

They dragged him across the floor, flipped him onto his back, and tied his hands, all the while shouting back and forth to each other.

"God damnit, I think that bastard broke my nose."

"Yeah, well you're in better shape than Miller over there."

The first man swore under his breath, "Go over there and check him, then look for the girl."

"She's not here!" Heero barked at them, knowing it was hopeless, but it was worth a shot.

The men both ignored him, "Jesus . . . yeah he's dead man. That son of a bitch got him right through the heart."

"Just move him out of the way, so the boss doesn't trip over him."

Heero felt himself recoil. These men were not doing this on their own they were working for someone; that was why they hadn't killed him yet. In the back of his mind, he heard the other man rooting around Relena's expansive room, it was only a matter of time until they found Relena and there was nothing he could do to stop them. In the meantime, the other man was calling someone who could only be their boss.

"Yeah, we got him, the girl's got to be around here somewhere. Kowalski's looking for her but it's safe to come in." He paused, no doubt receiving instructions, "You got it, boss." Heero heard the man flip his phone shut before he yelled in Kowalski's direction, "Boss will be here in a minute, find the girl quick."

Even as he spoke the words, Heero heard the closet door pulled open and seconds later, Relena's sounds of struggle as she was dragged into the room. After a moment he heard her forced to the ground beside him.

"Heero, are you alright?" She sounded panicked but at the same time slightly relieved. Why hadn't she at least tried to shoot the men with the gun he had left her?

"I'm fine, Relena just –"

"Enough with the chatting you two." The man shoved him in the back, causing him to fall forward.

"Don't touch him!" Relena's tone had changed to desperate now, "There's no reason for you to hurt him, you've got me now, so –"

"And what is that makes you think that you're the one I was after, Miss Darlian?"

Heero felt his head snap up as a cold, female voice broke the air. His mind kicked into recall mode; he had heard that voice before, he knew this person, he was sure of it, who was –

Beside him, Relena gasped, her voice incredulous, "Sylvia Noventa . . .?"

Heero felt his face blanch. No, it couldn't be . . . Sylvia Noventa, General Noventa's granddaughter . . . the girl he had offered his life to . . .

"Forgive me, I forgot, you go by Peacecraft now," her footsteps entered the bedroom and walked over to where he and Relena were being held. "Well then how about we make it simple and just go with: 'Hello, Relena'." She stopped in front of them, "I'm very sorry to have dragged you into all of this. Especially considering that we haven't seen each other in so long. I didn't mean to be rude, but after the war and the dissolution of the Alliance, well there was hardly an opportunity for the two of us to meet at one our family's gatherings."

"What the hell are you doing here, Sylvia?!" There was a noise that sounded like Relena had tried to get to her feet only to be forced down.

"Don't touch her!" Heero lunged forward, only to be pulled back as well.

"Yes, yes," Sylvia spoke in a droning voice, "the beloved body guard and boyfriend rushing to the aid of his princess. Gunther, gag him, I don't want to hear another word from his forked tongue. And Kowalski, go check the computer in the next room, Preventers will no doubt be breaking down those doors. " She barked the last sentence as an order and a rough piece of cloth was shoved into his mouth. "Relena, did you know that your boyfriend and I have met before?"

Relena did not seem in the mood to answer her questions though, "What do you want with Heero, Sylvia?!"

There was a sound that Heero instantly recognized as the safety being clicked off a gun and a moment later Sylvia answered, "I want to make him pay for what he's done." Her voice was no longer perfectly calm, it was crazed sounding but still some how restrained.

"Pay for what?! Sylvia, what are you talking about?"

"Do you know why your boyfriend came to me six years ago, Relena?" Heero heard her step closer to them and couldn't help but let his head fall against his chest . . . he knew what Sylvia was going to say, and Relena would no doubt remember these events as soon as Sylvia spoke, he bit down on the gag in his mouth . . . "This son of a bitch killed my grandfather and took God knows how many other innocent lives!"

"Sylvia, you . . . you can't possibly . . ." Relena sounded despondent.

"Of course I can possibly, Relena!" She threw something against the ground as she spoke, probably of frustration, "You have no idea what he's done!" Sylvia's voice was suddenly much closer to him and coming from where Relena sat, as though she had leaned down next to her face. "After he killed my grandfather, he came to me and offered me his life as repayment for his crimes! Do you know what I did?!"

"You let him go!" Relena yelled back, surprisingly forceful, "You let him go because you knew killing him would be wrong!"

"Yes, _then_ it would have been!" He heard her stand up, "I let him go because I knew that killing him would have been kinder than forcing him to continue to live his miserable existence. For years he never crossed my mind, I thought him to be dead, no doubt killed by the war or some other aspect of his wretched life. But then," she stamped the floor under her foot, "a year ago I watched you being sworn into office as the Foreign Minister, Relena. And who do I see at your side?! The same vile man that I assumed to be long dead! Not only was he alive, he was working for the government and dating the Foreign Minister!" From the sound of her voice she turned away from them, "I couldn't allow this."

"So you've been stalking Heero for months now?" Relena seemed calmer now, "You're the one who attacked the convoy last week? Heero was the one standing next to the car that you blew up, not me. And then you shot at him again when we were going into the Capital Building, he was the only one that was actually injured by a bullet."

"Yes, and fortunately for me, no one even considered that you might not be the target." There was the familiar sound of a gun being cocked back, and Heero heard Sylvia turn back in his and Relena's direction, "My men were beginning to grow skeptical that we would ever be able to corner you. When I suggested that we attack you in the manor, they were hesitant, but aside from the excessive amount I'm paying them they have their own stake in this." She stopped in front of them, and when she spoke Heero could tell she was just in front of his face, "It was surprisingly easy to find people that hate you just as much as I do, Yuy."

"Sylvia, please, you can't do this." Relena's voice was even but desperate, "Things have changed, the war is over, the world is different. Heero is different now. He works for Preventers, he's trying to make up for everything that –"

"Stop," Sylvia cut Relena off in a firm voice and Heero heard her move toward where she sat, "yo-you knew?" She sounded incredulous, "You knew this whole time?!" There was a scuffling noise and Relena gasped, Heero reflexively lunged for her, but was held in place by the man called Gunther, "You knew what he was and you still . . .? H-how? How could you . . . how could you just accept this? How could you fall in love with that man? How could you go to bed with . . . with a monster like that?!"

"He is not –"

"And you're just as bad as he is!"

He heard the gun cocked back again and reacted. With a sudden burst, he wrenched himself out of Gunther's grasp, and pulled the gag out of his mouth with his still bare hands. He had barely made it a step before Gunther tackled him from behind, coming down hard on his knee and sending a shooting pain up his leg, but Heero ignored it, as well as the fact that he was being dragged back to the floor, "Let Relena, go Sylvia!" Gunther slammed his face into the floor, but he kept talking, "You said it yourself, she doesn't have anything to do with this. Just let her go and I'll do what you want."

"Heero, stop –"

"Stay out of this, Relena." He didn't mean to sound so harsh, but he had to get her away from here. "Let her go and I promise, I won't fight you."

A heavy silence blanketed the room as though Sylvia was weighing her options. Heero felt himself tense; he had never doubted that he would give his life for Relena without a second thought and this fact remained unchanged but suddenly all he could think was that . . . he didn't want her to watch him die.

This didn't seem to bother Sylvia though, who must have motioned to Gunther, because Heero found himself being hauled to his feet once more and moments later felt the cool metal of a gun pressed against the side of his head. He waited for his life to begin flashing before his eyes or whatever was supposed to happen, but instead all he could hear were Relena's cries as she begged Sylvia for his life and all he could see in his mind's eye was what she must have looked like at that moment.

"You can let him go, Gunther." Sylvia's voice was stone cold now as she pressed the gun harder against his temple. But at the same time, Gunther let go of his arms and just then did he realize that he knee was in far worse shape than he had guess; it gave out under him almost immediately and out of reflex he tried to swing his arms to the side to catch himself, but they connected with something else, probably bed's footboard, before they could find the floor, and Heero found himself splayed out across the cold surface. Relena's concerned voice barely reached his ears when Gunther pounced on him yet again.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" He grabbed him by the crook of his arm and lifted him into a standing position, "You lost you murdering son of a bitch, take it like a man and –"

"Wait a second," Sylvia now sounded slightly perplexed as she approached him, "something's not right, what's wrong with you?" Heero didn't answer, and she growled in frustration, "Hold him there for a moment."

There was a cool flutter of air on his face, but by the time he realized that Sylvia must have been waving her hand in front of his eyes, it was too late, she had figured it out.

"You're blind?" To his surprise she laughed a bit, "This whole time you've been blind?"

He heard Gunther let out a astonished sounding breath behind him, but Sylvia continued talking, "Unbelievable, how long . . . it was when my men attacked the convoy wasn't it? You've been blind ever since –"

But her sentence was cut off by a sudden noise from the front of the room; the office doors burst open and Sylvia's third man, Kowalski, practically ran into the bedroom.

"Ms. Noventa, those Preventers people got here a hell of a lot faster than we thought. They're cutting through the door over the stairs as we speak, I'd guess we've got about five minutes until –"

There was a flurry of noise, Sylvia yelled for the two men to 'Grab her' and before Heero knew what was happening, Relena had thrown herself against him, pushing him against the foot of the bed, and swinging her leg onto his lap. There was something hard against the inside of her calf and he immediately realized what she had done with the gun he had given her. He seized it, she threw herself beside him and yelled, "Two o'clock!" as she fell.

That was all the instruction he needed. Heero fired the gun without thinking, getting off four shots before there was a yell and the sound of a body hitting the floor. Relena reached over and put her hand on his arm, guiding it to his left. "You've got Sylvia."

"And I've got you." Kowalski's tense voice rang out.

"He's not lying, Heero." To his relief, Sylvia sounded the tiniest bit frightened, "He's got your girlfriend square between the eyes."

"And he's got you dead on, Sylvia." Relena's voice was surprisingly fierce, "How willing are you to risk that between the two of us we can't follow your every footstep?"

He could almost hear Sylvia tense at Relena's words; beside him she shifted against his body, steadying her hand against his arm, to their far left, Kowalski took a step toward them.

"Don't move!" Sylvia barked to him. "Well then," her voice was calmer, "I believe this is what the old westerns would call a 'Mexican Standoff'.

"Take one step and I'll shot you," Heero's tone was deadly and it seemed to register with Sylvia.

"And the moment you do, Relena will die." Heero blinked, even though it did practically nothing for him. Kowalski had said reinforcements were almost here, he just had to keep them talking for a few more minutes. "Are you really willing to risk her life Heero?"

"Are you will to risk yours, Sylvia?" Relena countered her. Relena was right, they just had to wait her out. Kowalski would have to shoot Relena before he had a clear shot at the person actually holding the gun, and by that time, he would have already killed Sylvia . . . the question that remained was just how loyal Kowalski was to his employer.

"How can you stand by him?" Sylvia sounded disgusted again, "How can you be willing to die for someone like that?"

"Probably the same way that you could willing to kill him." Relena's voice did not waiver as she spoke.

"Boss, we've gotta make a move here." Kowalski was sounding more and more apprehensive.

Relena, however continued to speak over him, "You went through all of this trouble to find Heero and kill him and for what?"

"For his sins!" She sounded enraged now, almost too engrossed in justifying herself to remember the situation she was in.

"And then what?!" The volume of Relena's voice nearly matched that of Sylvia's and Heero realized she was probably hoping to drown out any sound of approaching footsteps, "If he dies does that bring back your grandfather?! Does it make up for the people that you killed trying to get to him? Does his death justify your actions?! Does it take everything else back? Are you redeemed?!"

"Shut-up, Relena! I didn't want to kill you, but I swear that –"

"Yes, Sylvia, add me to your body count!" He could feel Relena tense beside him, "Kill both of us and become everything you've said you hated."

"It's different!"

"It's not!"

"Boss, outside –"

"He's a monster!"

"Then so are you!"

She took a step toward then, her voice almost inhuman, "I am _not _like _him_!!!"

At that moment the bedroom door burst open. Heero heard the two intruders whip around in the direction of the door, seconds later four gun shots pieced the air, followed by two thuds against the floor.

The room filled with noise. Footsteps began to cover the floor, Relena threw her arms around his neck and sobbed into his chest, there was a hand on his shoulder, and Wufei was lifting both of them to their feet and helping him over to the edge of the bed so he could sit, Duo came in over his radio, demanding to speak to Heero.

More footsteps and voices filtered into the room asking questions, demanding information, and offering assistance. But over all of the sound and sensation that pervaded the air, he could still make out one tiny, fading voice though the chaos.

"He deserves to die . . . he's a monster . . ." The voice coughed and as the emergency medical teams shouted back and forth to each other, Sylvia Noventa breathed her last breath.

**Friday, March 27, AC 201, 10:25AM – Saint Mary's Hospital, Optometry Unit (DAY FOURTEEN)**

Heero shifted uncomfortably on the table beneath him. The fact that he had some sort of ridiculous contraption around his head was bad enough, but in addition to that the fact that he was being forced to wait in the hospital room in only a paper gown was adding insult to injury. The four days since Sylvia Noventa tried to kill him had passed relatively quietly. He'd suffered a sprained knee which would have to be in a split for a few weeks but was otherwise uninjured. Relena, thankfully, was perfectly unharmed and had returned to her usual routine on Tuesday. Duo kept him company at the manor during the day, but he was also allowed some time to himself to think . . . and his thoughts had kept drifting back to the things Sylvia had said that night . . .

The hospital room door opened and footsteps he quickly recognized as Relena's entered hoped up on the table next to him. "Dr. Addy will be right in. He said he wants to take one more look at your eyes with those," she tapped the thing attached to his head, (so that's what it was for), "and then they'll do the procedure."

"Hn." Heero sighed and found Relena's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze, "You know if you want to run screaming for the hills now would be the time."

She elbowed him in the side, "I'll ask Dr. Addy if he can do something about your sense of humor while he's poking around in there." Heero smiled to himself and Relena rested her head against his shoulder, "Heero, what did I say to you two weeks ago?"

"That no matter how much of a stubborn pain in the ass I am and regardless of the fact that I don't deserve your unconditional love and devotion, you're apparently suffering from some sort of mental illness and will continue to give it to me."

She laughed a little into his shoulder, "Yeah something like that."

The door opened again, and Dr. Addy's voice reached his ears, "Well, Agent Yuy, all ready to go I see." He stopped in front of the table, and Relena stepped back onto the floor to give the doctor room to work, "Then let's get one more look at these," he pulled up a chair and pulled Heero's head closer to him, "and we can get to work."

**Saturday, March 28, AC 201, 12:09PM – Saint Mary's Hospital, Recovery Ward**

"Heero?"

Heero felt himself let out a long breath, a pair of warm hands closing around his as he did. "Heero, wake up."

"Relena?" he barely recognized his own voice, it sounded like it belonged to a man coming off a three day bender.

"It's me, Heero." She ran her hand up his arm until it came to rest on his shoulder, "Can you open your eyes?"

Heero felt his head snap up, suddenly remembering where he was and what had happened. He slowly lifted and arm and rubbed his forehead, as if to warm up the muscles around his eyes. This was it. He took a deep breath with what seemed to require a great deal of strength forced his eyelids open.

At first he was met by a grayish haze, but slowly the world around him came into focus eventually revealing Relena's face hovering over his own, her features etched with concern.

"Heero?"

He couldn't help the smile that spread across his lips and reached up to cup her face, gracefully bringing it down so that he could press his lips against hers.

**Saturday, April 4, AC 201, 7:47PM – Parking Lot Outside of the Residence of Preventers Agent Heero Yuy**

Relena sighed as she got out of her car. This week had been hell. Heero had insisted on returning to work as soon as possible, which was understandable to an extent; he must have been bored out of his mind. He said he had more than enough paperwork stacked up to keep him busy while he finished his recovery, but he still escorted her to and from her office everyday.

She, in the meantime, had been locked up with Une for much of the week doing damage control. Preventers would release its official report on the incident that took place at her mansion on Monday. Relena shook her head as she grabbed her purse and closed the car door behind her. She didn't like it, but sadly she and Une had had to come up with a cover-up as to what really happened that night. As far as the world was concerned, Sylvia Noventa had been visiting her childhood friend and had become an innocent victim of three crazed men who broke into the Foreign Minister's home and tried to kill her. Relena had fought Une on issuing such a report until Une reminded her that revealing Sylvia's true motives would expose Heero, and possibly the other four, as Gundam pilots, something they just couldn't allow.

Relena started up the stairs and into doorway of the building. She hadn't told Heero about this yet and he knew that he wouldn't like the fact that she and Une were covering up for him, but it had to be done and besides that . . . Sylvia Noventa had suffered enough already.

Relena entered the elevator and pressed her floor number. As the car started to move she thought back over the past week. Heero had thrown himself into work and after two weeks of spending nearly every waking moment together, it was strange for him not to be constantly present. She had hoped that they could spend all of today together, but to her surprise, Heero had told her he had some things to do during the day and instead asked her to come over to his apartment for dinner that evening.

The elevator reached his floor and Relena stepped out, turned left, and quickly found herself in front of Heero's door. She had barely knocked on it when the door was flung open and a pair of hands seized her around the waist and pulled her inside.

Relena let out a sharp gasp and dropped her purse as she was pressed up against a hard body and something silky and dark was wrapped around her head so that it covered her eyes. The arm around her waist tightened while the other knotted the piece of cloth behind her head, and just as she was about to scream, a familiar voice whispered in her ear.

"You're late."

"Heero," she breathed, almost relieved, "what are you doing? I can't see . . ."

"That's the point." With that he spun her around and before she knew it, he had thrown her over his shoulder and was walking toward the back of his apartment. Relena opened her mouth to protest, but it only came out as a girlish giggle. She couldn't keep track of where they were going and it was only when he deposited her onto a soft surface did she realize that they were in his bedroom.

Heero was on top of her immediately, pinning her body against the mattress. He sealed his mouth over hers in heated kiss, sucking on her lower lip before breaking away to trail kisses along her jawbone, finally stopping when he came to her earlobe, which he ran his tongue the edge of before taking it into his mouth.

- - - - -

Relena sighed contentedly and reached her arm up behind her back to undo the blindfold. As it fell away, she found Heero's eyes staring at her intently. She smiled and tossed the black silk scarf onto his chest, "Okay, so explain to me what was so bad about this whole being blind thing?"

He favored her with a rare chuckle and pulled her small form onto his chest. Relena rested her elbows on either side of his head, propping herself up so that she could look down at his face. He was beautiful, how did he not see how beautiful he was? She traced her fingers along his temple, pausing as they came to the edges of his eyes. Tiny little white scars marred the skin there, like veins moving out to the sides of his face; a permanent reminder of what he had almost lost.

She lifted her eyes to lock with his own. The deep blue orbs never ceased to mesmerize her, it was like looking into the sky, just before dark. She brought her hands up to trace he eyelids, and Heero closed his eyes in response, enjoying the feel of her delicate touch. Finally satisfied, she gently kissed each of the closed lids and dipped her head to his chest, nestling herself against him.

Relena sighed, "I would have missed those."

Heero let out a long breath and tightened his grip around her. "I would have missed seeing you with them."

She smiled and ran a hand over his chest; as she did, she couldn't help but notice the tenseness she found there, "Heero, is something wrong?"

"No." He answered simply. She was about to ask again, when Heero suddenly sat up, taking her with him as he repositioned both of them so they were leaning against the headboard. "Relena . . . I," he raked a hand through his hair and sighed in a defeated way, "I haven't been able to stop thinking about what Sylvia said that night."

Relena felt her heart sink into her stomach. This subject had always been somewhat of an open wound for Heero, and no doubt Sylvia had rubbed a good bit of salt into it. She had been wondering how much of the horrible things that woman had said Heero had taken to heart . . . and apparently the answer was a considerable amount of it. "Heero, she a bitter, crazed woman looking for someone to blame her troubles on."

"But I did cause them." He let his arm fall to her side, "Everything she said was true. I killed thousands of people during the war. What right do I have to just continue my life as if none of it ever happened?"

Relena pushed herself off of his chest so that she could sit facing him, "Heero, what are your parent's names?"

Heero just stared at her for a moment, obviously confused by her question, "You know that I don't know that . . ."

"Well then surely you must at least know what day you were born."

His confusion deepened, "Relena . . .?"

"Where did you go to elementary school? Who was your best friend growing up? What was the best Christmas present you ever got?"

He blanched at her, clearly shocked by the questions. Relena locked eyes with him, "What was your real name, Heero?"

He closed his eyes and shook his head, "I – I don't . . ."

Relena reached up and lift his face with her hand, "Don't you think that you've suffered enough? You can't punish yourself forever for a life that you never wanted in the first place."

Heero closed his eyes again and let his head fall against his chest, "Have I been punished? What makes me any different from Sylvia Noventa?"

She took his hand and laced her fingers through his, "You've move on with your life. You chose to protect and live in the world you fought to create." Relena felt her brow furrow, "People like Sylvia, they can't let the past go and so they waste away in it."

Heero sighed and pulled Relena against him again, crushing her against his chest, "I want to live to make up for what I've done."

"You have been." Relena lifted her hand to place it over where his heart beat beneath is chest, "You're a good man, Heero. You are a kind, selfless person and the rest of the world is lucky to have you on their side."

He smiled against her hair and bent down to kiss her once more before they settled back under the covers and drifted off to sleep.


End file.
